Help! I'm addicted to Yerba

well friends, it's been about a month now of me drinking Yerba Mate, and I haveto say I am addicted. I am a non-smoker, but at night I get these cravings.. and start having headaches until I satisfy my urges and fix a pot of Yerba Mate tea. I feel so great after it's unbelievable .. so my question is, are their additives in this tea, like the chemicals in cigarettes ? How can I ween off this tea.. and what are some experiences you have with Yerba.

Yerba Mate can have as much caffeine as coffee, so you've probably gotten your body used to high amounts of it. That would definitely explain any headaches you're having, at least.

As for trying to back down from a caffeine addiction, you can try drinking a strong green tea, which would have significantly less caffeine and a taste somewhat similar to mate. Or, you could try mixing some caffeine-free tea like rooibos with your yerba.

I've tried yerba mate green (no-flavoured) tea and I really didn't like the taste; it was disgusting, to be honest. Now, is it posible that it was matter of that particular one or yerba mate anyway has that..."special" taste?

I'm a long time (recovered) addict. When I crossed the 1 kg a month mark, I decided to start backing off. That and I got wicked headaches if I didn't have any mate for a day...

The key to backing off on mate or any other item with caffeine was hit on by bsteele. Watch the caffeine drop! Mate has a crazy kick, especially if you brew in a traditional style using a gourd (big volume for lots of tea leaf) and if you are drinking solo (all that caffeine is going into you). So start cutting the volume and mix in other caffeine sources.

My other advice is to get yourself a very small gourd or wood cup if you brew in the traditional style. I found that to be an easy way to limit the amount of leaf used. I still drink mate a few times a month and my small gourd keeps me from getting too out of control.

And to cause a bit of trouble on my way out, I'll recommend trying some Cruz de Malta if you've missed that brand. Mmmm good. Chop is a little fine for my preferences, but it taste so good.

First, mate is not (supposedly) addictive. Yes, it does contain caffeine, but not only is there less caffeine in a cup of mate than in a cup of green tea, but the caffeine in mate is paired with different chemicals than in most caffeinated drinks, rendering mate non-addictive.

Sources for this info:http://www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/yer_02.htmhttp://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/ecoteas/faq.d2w/report#caffeinehttp://www.erowid.org/plants/yerba_mate/yerba_mate_chemistry1.shtml

(can't link due to low # of posts)

I know you can't always trust the internet, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. So I think that you could be addicted, and I wouldn't doubt it if you're consuming 1kg/month like the chap above. That said, there are far worse things to be addicted to than mate , plus it takes large amounts to be addicted in the first place.

You've just reminded me that I need to run across town for mate, as I'm down to the dust at the bottom of my Rosamonte Especial.

I can't drink coffee any more because the caffeine gives me the jitters, but yerba mate is almost drug-like in its hit. (Perhaps this is because I don't take drugs; I'm teetotal, too. I think this makes me more atune to the effects various substances have on me.) Needless to say, I love mate - but decided to cut down.

I seem to remember feeling quite tired the first couple of days. Now I drink it as a perfect Saturday morning pick-me-up.

I am addicted to yerba mate. Probably no more than i am addicted to coffee but it seems hard to quit it. Yerba mate does good things for me so there are much worse things to be addicted to but... i get a panic attack once a week and i think this is the yerba mate giving me this.